


Never Wanted the Attention

by xo_marauders



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25247794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xo_marauders/pseuds/xo_marauders
Summary: Remus watched with furrowed brows as Thomas’ fingers danced their way down Sirius arm, coming to rest somewhere beneath the table. Sirius shifted uncomfortably and stared down at the table resolutely. Remus gripped the table tightly, trying to quell the sudden anger inside of him, but to no avail. The unsettled look on Sirius’ face and the clear ignorance of Thomas was making his blood boil.****or, Remus defends Sirius
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 30
Kudos: 291





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> tw: sexual harassment  
> take care of yourself

“Hey there, Sirius.”

Remus glanced across from his seat next to Peter at the Gryffindor table to see Thomas Greenway, a Ravenclaw prefect, shove his way onto the opposite bench, pushing James aside in order to squeeze next to Sirius. Thomas was tall, with dark, slicked back hair and Remus despised him. He thought he was better than most students in the school and was hell to work with during prefect meetings. Even Lily couldn’t stand him.

“Don’t mind me, Thomas.” James said irritably stabbing at his dinner and turning away from the Ravenclaw. Peter frowned at James but Thomas didn’t seem to hear him, instead focusing his full attention on Sirius, who had yet to say a word.

“How would you like to meet me after dinner, hm? We could...find somewhere private to hang out?” Thomas whispered in the Gryffindor’s ear.

Remus watched with furrowed brows as Thomas’ fingers danced their way down Sirius arm, coming to rest somewhere beneath the table. Sirius shifted uncomfortably and stared down at the table resolutely. Remus gripped the table tightly, trying to quell the sudden anger inside of him, but to no avail. The unsettled look on Sirius’ face and the clear ignorance of Thomas was making his blood boil.

“I’m busy.” Sirius said shortly, sliding as far as he could down the bench, bumping into Alice who was sitting beside Lily. The two girls looked up, just then noticing the interaction.

“C’mon,” Thomas said, in a low, impatient tone, “you sucked off both Richie Wadsworth and Quentin Dall last week, can’t you do the same for me?”

“We didn’t—we just kissed. I never—“ Sirius stuttered, his face turning a deep shade of red as he glanced around the table to see that most the attention had fallen on he and Thomas now. The Ravenclaw scoffed and slid his hand across Sirius’ thigh.

“That’s not what I heard. Aren’t you supposed to be the local _Gryffinwhore_ or something? You’ve been with like half the guys in school and even with some birds, ain’t that right?”

James had stood from his seat just then, ready to give Thomas a piece of his mind, but Remus beat him to it. He launched his fist across the table without a second thought, the sound of his fist connecting with Thomas’ jaw rang in his ears like a lovely tune. Most everyone around the table gasped, their eyes blown wide at the scene but Remus just glared at Thomas.

“Shut the fuck up, Greenway.” Remus hissed as Thomas held a hand to his jaw. The Ravenclaw looked at him and glared.

“What the hell, Lupin?” He hissed. “What was that for?”

“For harassing Sirius you dumb fuck!” Remus yelled and Peter hastily grabbed hold of his robes, afraid of his friend launching across the table and ripping Thomas’ head off, and oh, how Remus would have liked to. Students from all over the Great Hall were turning toward the commotion now, even the attention of the staff table had been drawn. Professor McGonagall was hastily making her way towards them with Professor Flitwick in tow.

“You’re just jealous that even a slut like Sirius won’t sleep with someone as ugly as you!” Thomas shouted back.

Remus saw red.

He thrust himself forward, causing Peter to squeak as he tried holding him back. James leapt up, trying to help restrain Remus while Sirius stared with glistening wide eyes. Thomas had stood too, clearly ready to fight, but before anything could happen, Professor McGonagall announced her presence.

“What is the meaning of this?” She said imperiously, glaring at the group as a whole.

“This motherfucker—“

“ _Language_ , Mister Lupin!”

“Is harassing Sirius!”

“It’s not harassment is he’s into it! He practically begged to suck my dick!”

“He did not!” Lily shouted, her eyes narrowing menacingly at Thomas.

Suddenly, Sirius launched from his seat, grabbing his bag and rushing out of the great hall despite both James and McGonagall yelling after him. Remus watched him go, suddenly feeling guilty for the scene he had caused that had drawn attention to his friend.

“Mister Lupin, you have detention with me this evening after supper!” McGonagall chirped as Professor Flitwick made it to the table, giving Thomas the same punishment. Remus nodded, admitting defeat and plopping back down into his seat. Peter let out a breath of relief and James started towards the exit of the hall after Sirius.

“Mr. Potter,” McGonagall called and James stopped to look at her. “Please tell Sirius that I would like to speak with him in my office.” Her voice was soft now, a flicker of sadness in her eyes and James nodded before hurrying after his friend once more. Remus watched numbly, wishing he had done something more.

****

McGonagall had gone easy on him during detention, not even assigning him anything to do and rather just making him sit there to “think about what he had done.” So Remus thought and came to the conclusion that he should have done more to mess up Thomas’ pretty face. Sirius wasn’t a whore. Sirius hadn’t even gotten past a few make out sessions as far as Remus knew and he couldn’t imagine Sirius allowing himself to be used by just anyone.

The reputation of a Sirius being a sort of play-boy had gotten out of control. Sure, he would flirt with almost everyone, but when it came to actually doing anything, Sirius was quite respectful and caring. He deserved much better than guys like Thomas who just wanted to use him...

Remus’ thoughts kept swirling around as he walked back to the dorm, only stopping when he heard soft muttering coming from behind the door. He leaned in, almost grateful for his intense werewolf hearing.

“I’m not a whore James, I swear. I haven’t even...I haven’t even done anything except kiss a few blokes!”

“I know, Sirius. I know that.”

“Why does everyone think that? Why does everyone feel so...so entitled to my body now?”

Sirius voice broke at the end and Remus felt his heart clench. Sirius rarely cried, opting to suppress his feelings instead of facing them, but the humiliation of the day proved to be too much for him.

“It’s not right.” James mumbled. “You should have told McGonagall. This isn’t the first guy that has approached you like this, Sirius. And I’m worried that someone is going to push too far one of these times and you’ll get hurt.”

Remus stilled. This wasn’t the first time Sirius had been harassed? How many others were there? Why hadn’t anyone told Remus? Without another thought he swung the door open, his heart pounding in his chest and the revelation he just heard.

Both James and Sirius jumped when they saw Remus, not having expected him back so early. Sirius had tear stains on his face and was hastily trying to make himself look presentable while James ran a nervous hand through his hair.

“How long you been standing there, Moony?”

“Long enough to know that this hasn’t been a one time occurrence.” Remus practically growled. James looked down, a slightly ashamed expression on his face and Sirius let out a sigh.

“I didn’t want you to know.” Sirius mumbled.

“Why?” Remus said, a little hurt that his friend hadn’t confided in him. “Why wouldn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped!”

“I didn’t want your help, Remus!” Sirius shouted, standing and glaring at Remus. “I didn’t want you, of all people, to ever know what everyone else thought of me because I was scared that the one guy I actually do like might think the same thing!”

Remus stood there, shocked at Sirius’ outburst. His heart which had been thundering loudly in his chest had come to a stand still. _The one guy I actually do like..._

“Pads,” Remus said, “I could never think about you in an unsavory way. It wouldn’t even matter if you had been with half of the school or no one at all, I would never ever think anything ill about you. I care about you too much.”

Sirius’ eyes shined with tears. “I didn’t sleep with any of those guys.”

“I know.”

“I never wanted the attention from them.”

“I know.”

“I just want you, Moons.”

Remus rushed forward and pulled Sirius to his chest, allowing the smaller boy to cling onto him as he cried. James excused himself, though Remus didn’t pay attention to where he said he was going, all his attention focusing on Sirius and Sirius alone. Remus held him tight, pressing soft kisses to his head, vowing to never let anyone hurt him again.

“You have me, Pads. You’ll always have me.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Heyyy idk if you remember that ask you answered abt that douche harassing sirius and I remembered that in it at one point McGonagall asked to speak to Sirius, I was wondering if you ever thought abt writing that scene?? Cuz I would DEFINITELY love to read it, only if u want tho"
> 
> here you go! :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of sexual harassment/assault

“Take a seat, Sirius.”

McGonagall's voice was soft, but firm enough that Sirius didn’t dare disobey. He sat down on the usual chair he sat in whenever he was called into her office—mostly for detentions with James—and pulled his legs up so that his chin was rested atop his knees. The position made him look pathetic, he was sure, but he really didn’t care. He felt so humiliated and small already, why not just try to make himself disappear?

He could sense McGonagall’s gaze on him but refused to meet her eye. He didn’t want her to see him cry and he knew that if he saw any sort of concern in her face, he’d lose whatever composure he’d been trying to keep together since leaving the Great Hall.

“Is Remus in trouble?” He said, hoping that by asking about his friend she might forget to talk about him.

“He has detention with me this evening.”

Sirius just hummed in response, picking at the laces on his not-dress-code-approved boots. The image of Remus punching Thomas flooded back into his mind and he felt his throat grow tight. Sure, Remus punched Thomas, got him pretty good, too, but Remus probably thought Sirius was a whore now. There was no chance that Remus could love him now, not when those godforsaken rumors finally reached his ear. _Gods_ , the whole fucking school had to have heard by now and they were all going to think—

“Sirius?”

He looked up to see McGonagall looking at him, one thin eyebrow raised in question.

“I’m sorry, did you ask me something?” He asked, feeling heat rise to his cheeks.

“I asked if you’ve been experiencing any other harassment as of late?”

Sirius stared at her, the words on the tip of his tongue.

_Stephen Perry cornered me in the locker rooms after the Quidditch game asking if my ass was as good as everyone says it is. Abram Defreis tried to stick his hands down my pants while we were making out and told everyone he had succeeded even though he hadn’t. Both Richie Wadsworth and Quentin Dall said I blew them behind the hidden tapestry in the corridors and Thomas Greenway has been harassing me all week trying to get me to sleep with him and now the whole school thinks I’m a whore because I rejected him and he lashed out._

“No,” he said instead, his stomach feeling sick, “not really. I guess Thomas just got a little upset.”

McGonagall stared at him for a long moment, a look of disbelief and concern on her face before she finally nodded.

“Okay. But Sirius? If you ever need to talk to someone or experience anything like this —whether it happened in the past or not—my door is open.”

Sirius nodded once, a few tears finally escaping his eyes before he stood and exited the room.

***

It was a few days later that Sirius found himself back in McGonagall’s office. After talking with both James and Remus, they had insisted that he tell their head of house the whole truth as to what was going on. He had refused vehemently for awhile, but he finally had to cave when Lance Yearsley pushed him up against the library books and stuck his tongue down Sirius’ throat after claiming that “ _he wanted his turn before the Gryffinwhore became too loose_.”

Ms Pince had heard the books Sirius had been holding fall to floor as he tried to push Lance away and quickly split them up once she reached them, sending a very angry Lance to Dumbledore and a very distraught Sirius to Professor McGonagall.

So there he sat, in her office with tears stains on his cheeks and tea that had gone cold sitting in front of him. He wished that Remus was there. Remus had been so comforting the past few days. Ever since Sirius realized that his feelings were reciprocated and that Remus in fact did not think he was a whore, they decided to test the waters as _boyfriends_ and Sirius couldn’t remember being so happy in his life.

Both Remus and James had been wildly protective and even Peter had made sure to stick close to Sirius so that no one would try anything, and Sirius thought he was safe. Safe enough to go the library alone to get a few books.

Apparently he was wrong.

“I don’t know how it escalated.” Sirius finally said. McGonagall had been waiting patiently for him to breach the subject, not wanting to pressure him, but needing the truth all the same. “Sure, I’ve kissed a few blokes but...I haven’t...I don’t know why it’s become _this_.”

It felt like some sick joke. Like everyone decided to target him because why? Because he was proud of who he was? Because he was an openly gay pureblood? Because he was disowned from his family so there were no consequences to messing with him? Sirius couldn’t figure out which one it was, but either way, he felt fucking dirty.

“Sirius,” McGonagall said, “I need you to tell me as much as you can about who has been doing this to you and what has been done to you.”

And so he does. He tells her everything. About Stephen, Abram, Richie, Quentin, Thomas and Lance and how he doesn’t feel safe being alone anymore, how he is practically attached to James’ hip during Quidditch practice and how he waits to leave class with Peter or Lily so he’s not walking the halls alone and how he cries himself to sleep in Remus’ arms because he hates what he’s become in peoples minds. He tells her everything.

By the end, he’s in tears, but he feels so much lighter. And the angry but determined look on McGonagall face is reassuring as she pulls him into a tight hug.

“I promise you that I will have it all taken care of. You do not have to be scared here, Sirius, not while I’m around. If you have any trouble at all—for anything—tell me and I will see that it is taken care of.”

And Sirius felt like he could finally breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!   
> comments and kudos are always appreciated

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading  
> comments and kudos are always appreciated!  
> come chat with me on tumblr @xomarauders


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